Brigantine Birding
dawn at BrigantineThe Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, referred to by some as Brigantine is 47,000 acres of protected land along the Jersey Shore. I’ve been to Brigantine twice before, always on my way somewhere else—Cape May, Chincoteague. In other words, this wasn’t a destination, it was the second best stop. This is often how I feel about New Jersey: it’s the state I drive through.
I have several close New Jersey friends—that is, they were born there and they believe still that it is the best place. One even edited a book celebrating his love for the state (that, ironically, I contributed to). The idea that New Jersey is for driving through will cost me. So let me state that this weekend Peter and I have decided to make it a destination. As we drive south, we realize that a million others are also making it a destination. The traffic is dizzying as we navigate through thunder, lightening and a torrential downpour.
We are up at 5 the next morning and standing in the parking lot near the visitor’s center before 6, listening to a great horned owl hooting into the dark. The main feature of this preserve is an eight-mile one-way dirt road that loops out, salt water on one side, fresh on the other. We drive out a ways, then park to walk, the sun inching up in the horizon.
dawn at BrigantineThe Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, referred to by some as Brigantine is 47,000 acres of protected land along the Jersey Shore. I’ve been to Brigantine twice before, always on my way somewhere else—Cape May, Chincoteague. In other words, this wasn’t a destination, it was the second best stop. This is often how I feel about New Jersey: it’s the state I drive through.
I have several close New Jersey friends—that is, they were born there and they believe still that it is the best place. One even edited a book celebrating his love for the state (that, ironically, I contributed to). The idea that New Jersey is for driving through will cost me. So let me state that this weekend Peter and I have decided to make it a destination. As we drive south, we realize that a million others are also making it a destination. The traffic is dizzying as we navigate through thunder, lightening and a torrential downpour.
We are up at 5 the next morning and standing in the parking lot near the visitor’s center before 6, listening to a great horned owl hooting into the dark. The main feature of this preserve is an eight-mile one-way dirt road that loops out, salt water on one side, fresh on the other. We drive out a ways, then park to walk, the sun inching up in the horizon.
Baby clapper rail. Photo by Peter SchoenbergerI peer into the reeds and grasses and see the thin bird skitting along the edge. A clapper rail! It has the shape of a narrow chicken, with a tiny head. We watch it in the still half light until it vanishes without a sound into the grass. A few steps further I see something rail shaped, but smaller and dark. “What is that bird?” I ask. It’s a question I ask a lot, but this bird is so odd looking there’s something in my voice suggests this is something truly special. “A dinosaur,” Peter responds, binoculars to his eyes. We both laugh and look and conclude that our dinosaur is a baby rail.
The sheer number of birds is intoxicating: thousands of semipalmated plovers, semipalmated sandpipers, great egrets, snowy egrets. The sky swirls with gulls, herring, great black backed. There are yellowlegs and dowitchers working the sand. And then special birds as well, like the Black-bellied whistling duck that belongs in more southern climates. It’s a beautiful landscape, flat, with views extending to the horizon.
And that horizon includes Atlantic City. The lights of the city are still on. It’s hard not to imagine what is going on in the city. “People are drinking, gambling, over there,” Peter says. Yes, there’s lots going on in that city that I don’t want to think about as I watch a common tern hover mid-air, then plunge into the water looking for a fish.
Black Bellied Whistling Duck. Photo by Peter Schoenberger
Black Crowned Night Heron